This title was reviewed on my blog on January 2016 but I totally forgot to copy it here. My apologies.

How thin is the veil between real and imagined? How much of reality is real and how much of fantasy is imagined? These questions are at the core of Kali Ling's struggle in a life dominated by image, story and the competing realities of actual and virtual.

In Arena by Holly Jennings, the real and surreal clash into a vortex around one warrior: Kali Ling. To paraphrase Mr. Rod Serling: This is an adventure of sight, sound, smell, feel and mind. The ultimate question being can Kali and her team Defiance make it to the end intact.

Holly Jennings brings us deep into the not too distant future and the world of eSports in a way that is plausible and sometimes disturbing. The story takes place almost entirely in and around the training facility of team Defiance. At times this made the place feel either isolating or confining or even protective to the character’s different times. Most of all, it helps elevate or even create tension and conflict within the story.

When we first meet Kali and her team, they all seem oddly two dimensional. That does not last very long. Soon, we are drawn into Kali's world and witness how she handles all the situations that arise from that one event that altered her world forever. We also get a good view of the effect the event and Kali's changes have on them. Since the story is written in first person from Kali's perspective, we only get the development in the others from her observations.

Although this book is described as dystopian but, I find that doesn't quite fit. It does show the problem that society has with eSports and could be seen as allegory to current times sports or entertainment industries. What we don't see is the downfall of a society, social order or government like we do in most dystopian stories. I see this as a very well-constructed hard science fiction.

Arena by Holly Jennings is a hard hitting science fiction story that is very forward thinking in many ways. This book both touches on and tackles some very sensitive subjects in a bold and clear manner. If it weren't for the language, the violence and mild sex scenes, I would recommend this for teens everywhere. With those two things in mind, I have to give this an R rating but, suggest parents look into it for teens seventeen and up.

What a fun read! I would classify it as gentle, Canadian sci fi. An interesting protagonist who uses Taoism to affect personal growth in the story. I quite enjoyed it.

I found it somewhat ironic that this book was only available to me in a physical hardcover format when paper books in the story are considered rare and precious antiques! I would have finished this book in a fraction of the time if it had been available in a digital format like an eBook or my preferred format of eAudiobook.

Anyway, it was worth the hassle to track it down. I cyber-stalked the author and it appears there’s a second book out already and a third on the way, so yay! 😊

Arena by Holly Jennings was just not a book that I could get into. When Kali Ling's partner and friend with benefits overdoses on HP and dies, she needs to find a new gaming partner. Enter the new guy. All of a sudden she's immediately into him...like right after the previous partner dies. It's just hard to take a book seriously after ridiculousness like that. This is definitely NOT a YA novel, as one might think it is. It's filled with tons of sex and violence and drug use. I just didn't care for it at all. Not that I'm a prude or anything of the sort, but it just wasn't for me.

I actually found this one fairly refreshing, about older young adults. There aren't enough books like that. It was a little dry in places but interesting premise.

Arena grabbed my attention the moment I read the plot summary, a virtual world based novel? Sign me up! Arena definitely brought its own twist to dystopia.

In the year 2054 virtual gaming tournaments are as popular on TV as the Superbowl!Kali happens to be one of the latest and most famous rising female player! However, being a famous gamer is not all that it seems. When a player becomes so engrossed in the virtual world they easily lose track of reality and usually take to doing drugs in order to cope with the brutal truths of the real world. Not to mention, they are also forced to succumb to the rules and regulations of the gaming world that involve pleasing their sponsors no matter the cost in order to remain funded throughout the tournament. After Kali’s team is defeated in one of the brackets, they are more than determined to win the rest of the rounds in order to become champions of the games.

Kali was a killer female lead (pun intended), she was witty, headstrong, didn’t take no for an answer and a genuine badass! Her mail counterpart: Rooke wasn’t too bad either! He was great support for her, but definitely more of a side character in the story. Although this book was for the most part fast paced, it didn’t contain nearly as much “gaming time” as I thought it would. I expected there to be a lot of fighting and virtual world stuff, but that wasn’t really the focus. In fact, the focus/premise was a very serious one that dealt with drug addiction and bringing attention to that in the face of stardom. So yeah definitely a stretch from what the book claims to be about. Gotta say, I was a little disappointed in that area. I feel like I missed out on the real action of the story, it was kind of just pushed to the background. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the book, it just wasn’t what I was expecting.

If you’re looking for a new dystopian novel with a side of psychological depth, then Arena is the book for you! It comes out April 5th. Pre-order it on Amazon here!

Let me just start by saying that I am NOT a huge sci-fi or dystopian novel fan as they tend to drag on and bore me. This book was pretty good. It did drag in the first couple of chapters, but as I continued to read on it gave me some excitement and piqued my interest more.

Arena is set in the year 2054 where virtual gaming is a competitive, professional sport. Virtual gaming has a dark side. It isn’t all fun and gaming. In order to be a part of the professional world, the gamers must be in peak condition. All sensations are heightened, colors are more vibrant, smells are more pungent and the pain they feel is very real. When they die in the virtual they will feel every ounce until they wake back up in the real world once. Now that alone is what truly grasped my attention to this book.

Kali the main character, is kind of hard to read because she is throwing her life away and doesn’t seem to care (she has died several times and still didn't care about her life). She’d rather be lost in the virtual world rather than the real world. As the story goes on she begins to understand how detrimental she’s been living her life. Kali, with the help of a new team member, begins to change her life around while also trying to be a better teammate, captain and person. Kali wants to put an end to the dark side of virtual gaming. She was pretty interesting.

Arena has a bit of action and some intense scenes. The ending was wonderful and intense. This was a different read for me, but it still kept me interested. I think this a good read for those of you interested in reading about virtual gaming or even trying to get into the sci-fi genre.

I tried so hard to finish this, but I really couldn't get into the story. It was really good, but also really reminded of The Hunger Games with a sort of twist. I want to pick this up again in the future, but when I'm up for a science fiction/dystopian book. At the moment, I am okay with waiting.

Although there's a huge demand for this type of book, and the virtual gaming genre is growing, this title was less than compelling. It was hard to push through. The mystery wasn't much of a mystery, and the main character, Kali, despite an initial jolt, doesn't contend with much. By the numbers. It looks like this is a minority opinion, so I'm not quite sure what I missed, and would certainly try another book by this author, but this title wasn't compelling.

This was one of the books that got lost in the great shuffle of my not being able to pick up or finish a book for a good long while. The opportunity to read the second novel in the series, Gauntlet, eventually made me want to dust it off and read it so that I knew I wasn't missing anything.

Arena suffers from feeling like there's too much going on. Here's a bunch of athlete/gamers being the rock stars of their world's pop culture. They have money and fame and whatever drugs or alcohol they could want. The game they play is brutal and they have to be in the toppest of top shape to compete. They have to work as a team and trust each other, but then one of their number dies suddenly, the price of a life of excess. Having them have to deal with his death and the sudden introduction of a new team member right before the big tournament is a fantastic base plot.

But then we get into Kali hating the new guy, Rook, while also wanting to jump his bones. He could be great for the team, except he's not a team player, except then why's he there. She's got a drug problem and is spiraling out of control, Rook to the rescue with sparing and philosophy, but also his dark back story. It got really tiring reading those two going back and forth, especially when the bits with the whole team working together or just chilling and playing games were great. I would have liked this book a ton more if there had been more of the whole team instead of Rook and Kali.

Then there's Kali coming to the realization that it isn't right for the league to just write their dead team mate out of existence because he OD'ed and that makes them look bad. That worked out well towards the end, but could have had more done with it in place of the sudo-romance.

I'd have also liked more of the game itself, rather than just that as one more sign that Kali is spiraling out of control. The fight scenes were fantastic, they're probably tied with the classic games night scene for my favorite part of the book. The game being part of the main hook for the story, it feels like more should have definitely been done with it.

Ultimately, Arena didn't put me off reading Gauntlet, though I didn't review it for my blog because I would have wound up saying a lot of the same things about both. The romance feels forced, like someone suggested that there had to be one because of this being a YA novel, but it isn't book ruining. I give it a three out of five.

Great. Solid. Easily Recommendable to sci-fi fans and gamers and those looking for action

Friends w/ benefits
Friends to lovers
MC is half-Chinese and her father’s side. Supporting characters in w/w relationship. 
Appreciate the Taoist balance
I’m glad it’s not Christian centered. 
Action PACKED. Gory. Boasting & Threats.
Appreciate how it handles addiction and media image
YAY therapy!!
YAY team building and bonding!
You can tell it was written by a gamer, not someone trying too hard or moralizing for the kids. 
Love how they strategized and ran it through, but I think  
Ending gives closure to threads with an open ending I can’t wait to see where it picks up from
 

Didn’t like this “ I toss my arms up. ‘You need a room, ladies? Let’s go.’” in response to two alpha males squaring off. Thankfully, it doesn’t happen again and I didn’t highlight any other problematic stuff. 

 

Favorite Quote: Nothing like seeking your own insides to make you feel mortal. Nothing like coming back to life to make you feel like a god.

I tried so hard to get through this book. I could not. My apologies.

I found the world building illogical but exciting, which balanced out. None of the characters captured my sympathy. I just didn't like the characters.

Finally, the book felt like it was trying to capture Snowcrash's tomorrow-today feel without its depth of "what if" plot.

This was just a heck of a lot of fun.

Take the sport of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fighting and combine it with Virtual Realty gaming and a little bit of <em>Tron</em>, and you get Holly Jennings' book <em>Arena</em>.

It is the year 2054 and Virtual gladiator-style fighting is big business. Bigger than today's Super Bowl or Stanley Cup. The fighters are super star celebrities whose whereabouts and goings-on are constant tabloid news.

While it is virtual fighting, the gamers experience their own deaths nearly every week (unless they are the fortunate few who are at the top and don't take a loss) and those deaths - usually a hacking or decapitation - are broadcast on network television. This can take a toll on the players - imagine feeling your own death a thousand times! - who resort to drugs and alcohol to get them through.

One of the hottest teams in the RAGE League tournament series is Team Defiance - one of the few teams with female players. That two of the women are having a lesbian affair and one (Kali Ling) is sleeping with her teammate, Nathan. This is all big news for Virtual Gaming League and RAGE followers!

But Defiance is knocked down in a big way by a team that has come out of nowhere, Team InvictUS. All of Defiance is killed in record time and they are sent to the losers bracket in the RAGE Tournament. The team's owner calls Kali in for a meeting where he explains that he making her the team captain. Defiance never had an individual leader, but the recent loss shows that they need one. It's also good for the owner's publicity to have the first ever female team leader.

Shortly after that, Defiance is met with another loss - the loss of Nathan, who dies in a drug overdose.

Defiance slowly pulls together, which is made even more difficult with the inclusion of a new teammate who seems to have trouble taking direction from a woman. But the game has now changed for Kali. She has two goals now ... to get the team back on a winning streak, and to make sure the public knows about the rampant drug problem in gaming - the problem that killed Nathan.

As I wrote at the beginning, this was just a heck of a lot of fun to read. Author Holly Jennings really brings the reader into the action and we can easily picture the game-style fighting that's going on. She's also done a really nice job of telling a story and making this about more than just virtual gaming. The drive to keep Nathan's memory alive and to let the world know about the problem of drug abuse in gaming feels a little bit forced, though it does make for a more complete story than just the constant fighting.

The relationship between Kali and the new team member seems pretty obvious from the very start, but Jennings works it nicely, even though we all know what's going to happen.

Having had fun here, I do want to read the follow-up!

Looking for a good book? <em>Arena</em>, by Holly Jennings, is a swift-action story of virtual gaming, life, death, and the path to winning. It is a lot of fun and highly recommended.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I'm unable to provide a review at this time. Unfortunately, I DNFed this book in the first 18%. It just didn't grab my attention. I apologize for any inconvenience.

I grabbed a copy of ARENA a few months back and meant to request the sequel GAUNTLET, but then I kinda forgot. ARENA is a New Adult book about virtual gaming. I am classifying this as new adult since everyone in it is 18 or older and there is some sex and drug use not found in most young adult books. It seems to me that there are quite a few book recently coming out in this virtual gaming genre. I like the idea if it is done well. ARENA was done well and I am sad I missed requesting the sequel.

Kali Ling is an elite virtual gamer playing in the professional Virtual Gaming League (VGL). Every week people from all over the world tune in to watch gamers fight to their virtual death in tournaments in VGL. Kali becomes the first female captain to go into the VGL Rage tournaments and is at the top of her professional game when tragedy strikes. One of her teammates dies of an overdose. Faced with a seemingly unbeatable team Kali and her teammates are given a quick replacement called Rooke. Kali must get Rooke to play nice with her and the team so they can be a united force and get her own life in order or risk loosing everything.

There were quite a few things I loved about this book:

Kali: A confident female who faces things head on. Kali is playing a sport and living in a world still dominated by men, so having her become a leader is progressive, even in this alternate future. I loved that she is not afraid of her sexuality and goes after what she wants. She is also a fierce competitor in the games. Kali goes on a journey in this book and she ends up growing and maturing quite a bit as the story progresses.

Rooke: The new guy with a chip on his shoulder. He has reasons to be so standoffish especially when he sees all the drug use by members of his new team. He uses Kali’s religious roots in Taoism to try to get her to come away from all of that.

Virtual Gaming: I loved the way the players get “plugged in” and the way the book describes how it makes them feel. It was highly addictive to read about the fights themselves. They get killed and hurt in the games, which they feel but then it goes away when they disconnect. The VGL games are the biggest sport in this reality and the players are revered like the superstars of sports today.

Drugs: I know it seems silly that I would like this aspect, but I could understand why a drug that makes them feel like they are in the game might be so widespread and abused. I see drugs abused everyday in my real life and it makes sense that these superstar privileged gamers would feel and act invincible inside and outside of the game.

Other futuristic sci-fi elments: The author never let me forget that the book is set way into the future. There were cool aspects about transportation, fightign, and even their rooms with futuristic creature comforts. The author threw in so many details that reminded me over and over that this is sci-fi.

The pacing: This is an action packed book. From the first death match which leaves Kali and teammates dead in the VGL game, we get a sense of urgency since this team is in the championship that they have some catching up to do. They start at the bottom, which makes all the training seem really important. The author throws in a slave driving manager to urge Kali and the team to stay in the limelight and train like there is no tomorrow. Admittedly, it felt like we rushed through Kali’s teammates death, but the story must go on. I also liked how we came full circle back to that teammate as the story progressed.

I am not a gamer but I really enjoyed this story and had no trouble rooting for Kali and her team. The romance wasn’t everything for me, but I know some reader will enjoy the chemistry between Rooke and Kali. I also have to say that I loved the fact that Kali has two female teammates that are lesbians and very much in love with each other.

There were a few things I didn’t get about this story. First, the games themselves take place in a seemingly boring place with two towers and a wheat field with some trees. I felt like this aspect of the story needed a lot more details since it was such a futuristic story. I also disliked some of the immature conversations and exchanges between the players. This will appeal to a young adult audience due to the dialogue alone between the characters, but there were some mature themes that makes me want to place this in New Adult.

Besides those few hiccups, I enjoyed this book and the story of a girl overcoming obstacles to achieve her dream. The ending hinted that we can expect much more from Kali and her team as they reinvent the game. I plan to read the next book in this series and I would recommend this book to gamers and sci-fi fans.

Arena by Holly Jennings follows Kali Ling a fighter in the RAGE tournaments. Every week Kali enters the virtual ring and is killed. The fighters feel pain but everything else is digital and when they die they wake up in the real world.

I picked up this novel because I thought it would be similar to Rush by Eve Silver which I loved. It has a similar concept. Both deal with fighters in a virtual ring, but Rush blends in an alien/sci-fi theme and Arena, well, Arena felt like the concept of the story was never fully realized.

The characters in Arena came off as one-dimensional. Kali’s lover is killed right in front of her (for real) and yet she was very quick to move on to the new “hottie” on her team. It was a classic enemies turned romantic interest plot. I had trouble believing it. To be honest, I had a hard time believing anything the characters did. Their motives didn’t feel solid enough and I wished the characters had been further fleshed out.

Overall, this book was interesting enough to keep me reading until the end but not interesting enough for me to want to continue the series. It felt like it could have been edited down, there were things happening that were not central to the story and added nothing of value. If you enjoy video games and fast-paced reads this might just be for you.

Arc provided by NetGalley.

As someone who spends what others might describe as an “unhealthy” amount of time on video games, I’m always skeptical when I see a book that wants to incorporate them in some way. I’m always left wondering how obsessive or awkward they’re gonna try and make an entire segment of the population look. So it was with trepidation that I picked up Arena, the debut novel of Holly Jennings.

Taking place in the year 2054, Arena centers around a version of the United States where sports have been replaced by virtual reality based video games. (Yes, please.) The most popular of these is Rage, a gladiatorial based game that sees teams of five work to capture the other team’s base. Or, they can try and wipe the other team, which is pretty much the option that everyone takes. Kali Ling, aka The Warrior, is a member of the league favorite Defiance.

After a surprise loss puts Defiance into the losers bracket of the biggest tournament in the game, tragedy strikes. Kali now has to lead her team to the biggest comeback in the history of the game.

What really surprised me about this book was how much there was to like. One of these things is the game. Rage is actually very well developed. The rules are simple: defeat the enemy team or capture their tower. The players fight with medieval weapons and can only do in the game what their bodies can in the real world. (So yes, even the game nerds are now well-built jocks.)

What’s especially interesting is that the game is fully immersive. The players are hooked into machines that make the game world feel identical to the real world. (Ala Sword Art Online or your Japanese VRMMO light novel of choice.) The downside of this system is that even death is made to feel real. This adds an emotional level to the game making it very unique. By “dying” regularly, what kind of effect could that have on someone? It’s made very clear that this process isn’t fun for the players, and the fear of death becomes something for the audience to partake in.

The characters are all very well done. As in, none of them feel like a caricature of what people think gamers are, and that is one of the best compliments that I can give the book. Kali and her team are all just normal people who love video games. Even in the scenes celebrating game history, the characters never become what The Big Bang Theory has convinced America gamers and geeks are. (Confession: I love that show, but it definitely doesn’t present geek culture in a flattering way.)

If I have to give a negative, it does feel like the novel suffers from its lack of a real villain. We never really get to know any of the opposing teams and Defiance’s owner, despite being a piece of work, isn’t really “final boss” material. Instead, the real villain is mental illness and drug use. (Which is actually an interesting take, but still doesn’t give that villain feeling.)

In the end, I really like Arena, which I didn’t expect. I got really invested in the characters and their journey to become the best at what they do, even in the face of tragedy. I want more, and I definitely see myself picking up the sequel at some point.

My favorite parts of this book by far were those that involved virtual gaming. It's a nice extrapolation of current gaming/e-sports, and was really fun to think about. I would love a whole book just about that! I also liked how it showed the celebrity culture that went with the top teams - everything done is for the camera and the sponsors, and at the same time, people have to train hard!

There is also a whole message about drug abuse and addiction. I didn't enjoy that part as much, and I thought that the main character dealt with these difficult things too easily. However, again the widespread use and the way it was hidden has a lot of parallels in current times. I would have rather focused more on the game :)

All in all it was an enjoyable book, and I would recommend it especially to those interested in games or e-sports.

Took me awhile to get into this one, the summary had me hooked from the get go but I ended up not really into the actual story itself. I was really hoping to get more about the gaming/competition than we actually got. The lives of the gamers, romance and addiction ended up being more the forefront of the story. Not my forte but there are readers I do know that I think will get more out of it than me so it was still an informative read.

Wow! Arena was amazing!!! I wonder why it took me so long to read this book, because the constant action and development with the characters and the suspense was crazy! I loved the references to old games (because I was a gamer myself) and I can't wait to read the sequel! Looking forward to it!

Loved this one to pieces! SO unique and so much fun and I loved every bit of the action!